Freemasonry Search

Originally posted by irishpackerfan68
In my short time here i have probably slandered freemasonry as much as i possibly could. But after some recent events in my life I was thinking maybe
i wont know til i join and see it for myself. I still question a lot of what freemasonry does and i still have very high prejudices against it but im
thinking I must as well try and see what they are about. So if that were the case I email a lodge by me set up an appointment and I think its the
counsel that does a search on me would they search my facebook at all? If that is the case how likely would I to be denied from it i have some anti
masonry banners and what not. Like would i be accepted into it even if i have a lot a questions about freemasonry that might offend someone in
masonry?

Honestly, at this stage I'd say don't join. So long as you have doubts about the fraternity, you can't in all honesty truthfully answer that you
are joining because of a favourable opinion preconceived of the institution. I've heard that the Complete Idiot's Guide to Freemasonry and
Freemasonry for Dummies are good primers. However, until you have satisfied yourself and dispelled any concerns you might have about Freemasonry, I
would strongly urge you not to attempt to join

I would say if you decide to join, prepare yourself for the event that you find masonry is all about friendship, morality, and brotherly love, just in
case you don't find all the Satanic child sacrifices that seem to permeate these boards.

Originally posted by retirednature
Press a mason hard enough with questions, interjecting ignorance here and there, press the right buttons... they will tell you everything you want to
know. Especially if it's family.

Are saying you'd use someone's family to illicit answers from them? Sounds very wrong.

Well, having led a Lodge, I will say that we never "compartmentalized" information and hid anything from the Brothers.

Brought up Alexander Pike

You mean Albert Pike?

and once I set sail to that ship, they all felt compelled to release the Kraken of truth upon be lol.

Well, most of us here have been open and honest from the beginning, we didn't need to be compelled nor felt the need to justify ourselves, or our
Masonic affiliation. I also highly doubt that anyone would violate their oaths to satisfy your questions.

I understand your logic but i how can i honestly say i wish to join when im competely ignorant of what lies inside. I would say its almost like a leap
of faith your dont know if you even wanted to do it you just did it and now your seeing where you land. Once your in your in if theres something i
dont like i cant leave but i wouldnt attend then.Might as well bring some kind of new prespective into my life who knows how it works

I understand your logic but i how can i honestly say i wish to join when im competely ignorant of what lies inside. I would say its almost like a leap
of faith your dont know if you even wanted to do it you just did it and now your seeing where you land. Once your in your in if theres something i
dont like i cant leave but i wouldnt attend then.Might as well bring some kind of new prespective into my life who knows how it works

Yeah but that's the thing. You have preconceived notions that somewhere someone's doing the dirty within Freemasonry and the way I read your
response is you'll tuck that away for now. So you wouldn't be coming in with a favourable notion of the fraternity but rather you're holding an
unfavourable one in abeyance; not the same thing. If you don't honestly believe that you're joining a moral fraternity then those doubts are going
to colour your perception and response as a member.

When I joined, it was based on the evidence of what my grandfather's lodge had done for my grandmother on his passing away while the family was on a
ship bound for England some 30 years before I was born. They arranged for his funeral and burial and I have a photo of two long lines of Masons
walking behind his funeral hearse on the way to the cemetery. I took their actions as being emblematic of the essence of Freemasonry, having no doubt
about the fraternity and what I was getting myself into.

For whatever reason, you don't have that clarity of conscience and until you can say you do, joining Freemasonry would I think be a mistake for you
because you'll be approaching it as damaged goods rather than a pathway to improving yourself for yourself and for your family and community's sake.

I understand your logic but i how can i honestly say i wish to join when im competely ignorant of what lies inside. I would say its almost like a leap
of faith your dont know if you even wanted to do it you just did it and now your seeing where you land. Once your in your in if theres something i
dont like i cant leave but i wouldnt attend then.Might as well bring some kind of new prespective into my life who knows how it works

A leap of faith is exactly what it is. You must know at least one person who is a mason and a good person. For me, the people I knew who were masons
were all men I looked up to. Having heard all the nasty stuff on this site and other places about Lucifer worship, Higher up's doing bad things, I
still had doubts, but I knew that the men I admired would never be part of that kind of thing. So I joined, but was cautious and very, very
attentive. That proved to be a good thing.

I have satisfied myself that Freemasonry is exactly what the men I admired told me it was. My only regret is not having done it years
earlier.

Originally posted by irishpackerfan68
In my short time here i have probably slandered freemasonry as much as i possibly could. But after some recent events in my life I was thinking maybe
i wont know til i join and see it for myself. I still question a lot of what freemasonry does and i still have very high prejudices against it but im
thinking I must as well try and see what they are about. So if that were the case I email a lodge by me set up an appointment and I think its the
counsel that does a search on me would they search my facebook at all? If that is the case how likely would I to be denied from it i have some anti
masonry banners and what not. Like would i be accepted into it even if i have a lot a questions about freemasonry that might offend someone in
masonry?

You will have to answer the following question during your initiation. What you answer will be up to you, but it will also be binding on your
conscience:

Do you pledge yourself that you are prompted to solicit the privileges of Freemasonry by a favourable opinion preconceived of the institution?

Years ago before I became a Widows Son, I was big into conspiracy theories...."The Government is controlled by the "...etc, etc..I even wrote a
metal tune about it, lol...later in life, and facing possible death from cancer I begin like alot of people facing death as a real possible reality,
reading the Bible.....I was about a third of the way thru the book, and began having alot of questions that quite frankly I couldn't wrap my head
around, every answer I came up with only caused more questions, and few answers. But in my search for answers to my profound questions, I kept running
into little mentions here and there about Freemasonry. So I began more and more studying Masonry. I'm not talking about just reading some website
silly opinions, or a couple of "out there" books. I spent 8 or more hours a day, and night just reading everything "Pro" and "Con" about
Masonry. After a while the answers to most of my questions began to materialize. At first I became somewhat confused. Then some anger insued, and
finally things just fell in place before me, as a veil had been lifted from my eyes, and everything began to make sense. I contacted a lodge in my
town, and was accepted. Before I rode the Goat, I had already read over a 100 books, reports and Ms, as well as reading Morals and Dogma all the way
through, and studied it alot. The day after I was raised, I went straight thru the Scottish Rite. I'm now frozen at 32 degrees, a Noble of the MS,
and JD at my Lodge. I've read upwards of 300 books, and have read Morals and Dogma over 5 times now, and constantaly study it, and legends of
Outreemer. I really feel bad for those "mostly young people" who want so hard to believe all nonsense leveled against Masons, and Masonry in
general. Very, and I mean "Very" little of what's out there on the internet about Masonry is even in the ball park of truth. Masonry does hold
"open secrets", that anyone deserving the knowledge can easily find Mason or not. Alot of Masons out there just join as a social club because their
friends are members, and that's fine, but there are few who will actually put forth the effort to dig "Deep", and discover the true secrets of a
Master Mason. I recomend that all Masons should go thru and study Scottish Rite teachings. I put it like this....You just bought a book with 32
chapters, and for some reason you stop at the end of the 3rd chapter, and think you already know what the rest of the book is
about....lol......surprise...................forgive my ramblings for my first post on this forum. Men join Masonry for different reasons, but if your
not a good man to begin with you will be found out soon enough. There are "Brothers", and "Fellows"....question is....how will you be remembered?

I suggest becoming active in your Scottish Rite valley. Just reading about it will give you lots of insight, but when you are there, working side by
side with some of the greatest men you will ever meet, you get so much more out of it. (IMHO)

I agree bro, being there and experienceing it first hand.....especially that one part....(wink, wink) puts it all together..just reading it first
before experiencing it kept me from getting lost during the journey. Thanks for the welcome..:

edit here.....of course I was only refering to the conferring of degrees...

edit on 27-3-2013 by Rosycrofs because: just adding a
clarification...

I also had researched Freemasonry prior to petitioning. I didn't read Morals & Dogma until after I was Raised, but years before I joined the Scottish
Rite. I traveled on a different path though once I was in, I waited 2-years before joining any appendant organization and when I did I joined the York
Rite. I didn't join the York Rite for another 3-years (mostly due to military obligations).

I like to compare Freemasonry to college where Scottish Rite is a more philosophical study while the York Rite is more historical in nature; although
there's plenty of esoteric information to study in the York Rite.

No one will invite you most likely. 2B1A1. You petition asks for signatures of Fellow Brothers, if you are deserving you will get those signatures.
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." Matthew 7:7 ...

that was a sort of loaded question..

I have been invited & had many great conversations.. with gentlemen above the blue lodges..

I also find it funny you would quote Jesus, when the very first three degree oaths are to seek "light"..

"Lucifer, the Light-bearer ! Strange and mysterious name to give to the Spirit of darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! It is he who
bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable, blinds feeble, sensual or selfish souls? Doubt it not!" Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the
ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, p321, 19th Degree of Grand Pontiff

I find it to much of a contradiction to symbolically be murdered by Jubilah, Jubilo and Jubilum then raise myself up from the dead by the grip of the
lions paw, all the while seeking this so called "light"..and yet still believe that Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross for my eternal salvation..
either he is the lamb and through faith in him humanity will be forgiven or not. cant have it both ways. Some guys circumnavigating in a ritual
symbolically raising each other from the dead sounds more like the synagogue of satan full of useful naive tools than a non religous harmless faternal
order seeking to help people..

Funny how you do not quote the text in it's entirety...."The Apocalypse is, to those who receive the nineteenth Degree, the Apotheosis of that
Sublime Faith which aspires to God alone, and despises all the pomps and works of Lucifer. LUCIFER, the Light-bearer! Strange and mysterious name to
give to the Spirit of Darkness! Lucifer, the Son of the Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble,
sensual, or selfish Souls? Doubt it not! for traditions are full of Divine Revelations and Inspirations: and Inspiration is not of one Age nor of one
Creed. Plato and Philo, also, were inspired.

The Apocalypse, indeed, is a book as obscure as the Sohar.

It is written hieroglyphically with numbers and images; and the Apostle often appeals to the intelligence of the Initiated. "Let him who hath
knowledge, understand! let him who understands, calculate!" he often says, after an allegory or the mention of a number. Saint John, the favorite
Apostle, and the Depositary of all the Secrets of the Saviour, therefore did not write to be understood by the multitude."

All you need to do is ask yourself if you would like to be part of an organization that is really just about being a good man in the company of other
good men and doing some good for your fellow creatures.

If this is for you, I would join.

Keep in mind that you must join for the right reasons and given your preconceived notions, you may not be able to due to being unable to answer the
question asked of you during your first degree which is, if you are joining based on a favorable opinion of the fraternity.

I am not sure why you would slander and have such a negative opinion of an organization you obviously know so little about.

Just to clarify a few ridiculous notions I have seen expressed on this site:

There is NO RELIGION involved in being a Free Mason. Yes there is a Bible in the center of the lodge but it could be a Koran or Torah and is symbolic
towards the Grand Architect of the universe (God, not Satan)

There are also no politics involved in being a Free Mason. In fact, just like religion, it is not allowed in lodge. There is NEVER DISCUSSION OF
RELIGION OR POLITICS. Again, it is not allowed.

Once you are a Third Degree Master Mason, there is no higher degree. The reference to "Higher up" Masons
is simply not true in reality.

Those with 32 or 33 Degrees are not above a 3rd degree Master Mason in any way, nor privileged to any power within the organization above that of a
3rd degree Mason.
In fact, you could just as easily be the "Grand Master" in any state as a 3rd degree Master Mason as you could with 32 or 33. By the way, a 33rd
degree is bestowed upon you similar to a "Lifetime Achievement Award"

I am truly astounded by the paranoid misinformation I see here. It saddens me and diminishes my hope for the future of mankind when I see so many
people who, if they lived a few hundred years ago would be the cheering spectators of "witch burnings" and other atrocities committed as the result
of such paranoia and ignorance.

Truth be told, If you were to base being a good Christian on living your life using the life of Jesus as an example, the Masons I know are far better
Christians than most members of the more strict and fundamentalist churches that I know. This observation may not be popular here but it is true.

Love, tolerance, compassion for your fellow man, the less fortunate and all God's creatures are far more evident within the Masons than in the
general population and if that causes fear and paranoia for people, maybe they should take a good long look in the mirror.

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